#nico is very good at you laugh you lose challenge hes destroying it

[ao3writers-pls-love-me]

Hi so im thinking this idea of au where Nico can see ppl mind whenever they touch him and back. its a cursed thing bc all he ever felt is ppl's hostility towards him, whether that "annoying kid", "scary scary", "thy son of hades holds the world's crushing grudges", "hes suspicious we cant trust him", "hes gonna kill us all one day", "creep" or "im going to kill him"

Solangelo mind reading upon touches au (with Nico can read a small amount of thought from people's mind base on how they touch him)

Bianca is straight out, "youre annoying and i love u so much, but i dont want to carry more burdens, dont want you to always put everything u care and trust on me, i want u to find yourself, your own path, follow your heart, not me and also, you are not allowed to watch aquaman until your 13th birthday"

Percy's more complicated, its a mix with guilt, anger, betrayal, brotherly love, annoying, sad, sorrow, "im so sorry Nico", "gods this kid is going to be the death of me", "why did u do that i trusted you!", "im sorry im so sorry you dont have to forgive me im sorry", "i trusted you", "why", "he doesnt...hate me?", "imma make a drop dead joke abt his dad", "i hate him im going to do everything for my lil bro"

Annabeth is quite brief actually, but i imagine it goes like "u go and slay kid", "thank you", "deserved", "gods hes such a nerd i like him", "wtf we can eat spiders as FOOD??? the demigods saved humanity for million times and this is what we ge—"

Hazel is very wholesome and nice, "you saved my life", "Im willingly trust u with everything", "youre my brother! happy happy!", "f— sh— holy he—", "baby bear frank we stan", "ppl find u untrustworthy but dont worry Nico i do and i will shove this sword up thei—", "i love u brother", "i wonder what Bianca will think of me"

Jason's wary at him at first but after the Cupid incident he becomes protective and cares for him a lot, "i dont trust him", "son of hades what will u do", "grrr woof woof bark arf", "piper, leo piper leo..", "hes scary", "does nico eat fancy stuff—", "hes brave", "nico youre the best u deserved the world", "im sorry for not trusting u", "im glad i know i appreciated u", "i hope hes ok", "nico you idiot thats not self loving thats self harming com'ere ill give u a hug", "its going to be alright bro", "dont be sad youre great you should know that everything is going to be alright"

Lastly Will Solace, dude this guy is just full on, sentimental, love, gentleness it makes Nico shooked so badly every time they touch, theres even this electrify feeling and warmths and affections, is not like, is not the same as everyone else. And, Nico fall for it every time, in denial, but he can not chase that weird sappy thing in his heart away, cannot ignore it any longer, cannot be in denial, any longer.

they touched the first time, and all Nico see is just worried and strangely huge amount of adoration, "omg did i...touch him, with my hand, which just delivered a baby satyr?", "shit hes cold", "also cute", "dammit Will nows not the time everyone's dying", "imma warm up his pretty warrior hand that is full of scars and scratches", "hes fading", "oh no oh gods no shit keep calm keep calm keep calm", "please i just met him", "i dont want you to fade away", "i have to—i have do something—anything", "fricking speak Will! speak! hes going to disappear again!", "that shirt is cute and disgusting, but overall looks very nice on you", "not that idiot", "smart stuff", "youre going dark and its terrifying me how much i dont want you to—", "what did you do to me", "you are driving me insane"

the second time in the infirmary is just Will being a lovesick puppy and a concerning friend.

"youre old", "im sorry let me fix that", "youre dense and i love-hate you for it", "im worried", "careful focus stitches careful steady blood careful calm bandage", "did i hurt you", "im sorry if i did", "no why would i think that", "of course hes hurted", "he doesnt look like it", "i want to somehow help you other than healing i want to help you but what should i do", "what if hes uncomfortable", "what if i make him uncomfortable", "but hes just", "i need you", "i want to help you", "not as a medic or healer or therapist", "something more", "you are so...nice", "what did you do to me", "ambroisa unicorn draught maybe lights he needs to be at shine", "please dont go", "please come back, "i look forward to seeing you", "hi its nice your face nice your smile nice", "please dont disappear", "i like you", "lots of things about you", "everyday nico everyday nico", "you need every rest you can get you can have everything you want", "even me"

the third time and is just, is too, driving Nico crazy. Despite all the things Will said, not even once of them connected to those inside his head, why, why tho, why him, why this Apollo's son choose him, of all campers, why him, why? And one single touch then this mind-blowing fact hit him harder than a truck.

"i love you"

oh...huh, its simply as that? he is, nico—is, that dense and stupid, isnt he.

Nico, tapping Will's shoulder: Will, can I um, have that?

Will: Have what? "im here you know u can have me instead", "that fricking caramel chocolate candy bar", "you can have anything hon just kiss me", "actually no id died", "worth it", "he looks cute today as well", "dear diary hes cute FUCK—"

Nico, choking: I—nothing. I want to sit with you

Nico, petting Will on his head: Hey, I was just wondering—

Will: "FUKA AFSHEJDKHSSHJA HE TOUCHED MY HEAD—", "soft hand soft hand soft hand soft hand soft hand", "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA—", "its Nico", "Nico Nico Nico Nico—", "and iiiiiiiiiiiii—", "crying right now", "fuck my face is red isnt it duck shieee no no nono calm calm"

Will, blushing: Yes, I'm available, what's up?

Nico, snorts:

Will, leaning his head on Nico's: Nico? "oh gods its happening everyWill calm down oh gods oh gosh", "calm calm calm calm wheres medic Will! We need his ungayness", "nowhere! we lost him seven days ago!!", "wtf thats three nico days he died that early!—", "fuck we doomed"

Nico, trying to hold in his laughter: Y—Yeah?

Will: It's on my mind for awhile "no itS DUCKING NOT—", " i dreamed abt you", "no this is not a dream fuck fuck duck duckshit", "i thought of you every—", that I always wanted to, um, wanted to spend more time with you, to hang out or wanted, you know, be with you, like, "for the rest of my life say it coward say it say it saY IT SAY IT" m—most of the time, and would you mind if I—

Nico is so red, he's not even ashamed of it at this point: If you?

Will: A—Ask you out..."on a date on a date on date on date" on a—on a—

Nico: Yes...?

Will: —trip to Starbuck where we can eat fancy coffee and laugh at stupid drinks like Crystal Ball Frappucino or something "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—", "WHY DO WE KEEP LOOSING", "FOR GODS SAKE ITS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE", "WE ALMOST FRICKING HAD IT FUCK—", "BUT ITS TECHNICALLY A DATE RIGHT??? ITS A DATE RIGHT???"

Nico, trembling: G—Gods sure Will sure, snorts I—of course I'd lov—love to

Nico, pokes Will's back: Will...

"Will", hardly breathing: "cute cute cute cute cute cute nico cute cute cute", "hes being a babyyyyyy—", "fuck thats cute", "is he pouting??? is thaT A FCKING POUT—", "mind be calm and im having a heart attack", "i wanna hug him"

Will: Oh? What's wrong, love?

Nico: It's nothing important, really. I don't know how to explain it. I'm just...kinda, gloomy, at the moment

Will, immediately: "i wanna hug him", "you wanna hug?" You wanna hug? "—OH SHI—"

Nico: Yes, took you long enough

[percyjacksonfan3]

The Last Olympian Thoughts

So because I have absolutely 0 self-control or restraint when it comes to this series and its characters, and for The Last Olympian in particular, I could not put TLO down. Because of this I figured I couldn’t do the usual photo reaction posts I have been so far, because the spam would just be ridiculous, so I am stealing the idea from @yourstrulytaaay​ to do a masterpost instead. (Adding a Read More cause this got ridiculously long)

Fun fact, TLO came out right after i finished reading the series for the first time so it's the first PJO book i bought  and my only hard cover one for the og series. I checked the year and turns out it was published 2009, which means i was actually 9 when i read the series for the first time. I realize this is not really a fun fact but i thought i was older when I first read the series so it's blowing my mind a little ‘cause now I’m 21 and everything hits different and i still have so much love for this series and the characters Okay onto book thoughts: - i was right that this book is gonna destroy me, the first line alone made me so excited and nostalgic it's ridiculous - I love Rachel and Percy sm tbh. Her being a bit of peace and normalcy in his life without always reminding Percy of who and what he is is so good for him. Just a little escape

- of course by the end of the book that's not the case any more but by the end he's lived his prophecy so he doesn't need it as badly, plus he and Annabeth are solid again - Percy saying Annabeth has been hard to be around lately... Ouch my heart. Luke really is the last thing that keeps them from being together and Percy is so jealous and Annabeth so torn and in pain, i feel so bad for them both

- Beckendorf 🥺🥺 - the telkhine with the Lil Demon lunchbox!! I forgot about him. Percy: 'i left him alive, partly because his lunchbox was cool' is one of my absolute favourite lines tbh - Paul taking Percy crabbing and being imperative in helping Percy kill the giant crab 💖 Paul Blofis is important and deserves the world, okay? - aw Percy, you can't save every demigod bb

- 'i had to fight him eventually. Why not now?... What difference would a week make?' Oh Percy you have no idea - real talk tho, the fact Kronos possessed Luke's body would also mess me tf up. Percy keeps forgetting it's not Luke anymore and yeah, that would be so so hard and confusing af, like what another smart little mind game for Kronos to pull on top of everything else - the fact Percy fights Kronos before getting the Achilles Curse and actually doesn't die within seconds is... Astounding. He kicks him in the chest! And yeah Kronos is weaker and still adjusting to Luke's body, but Percy is having trouble fighting Luke cause they used to be friends - Percy breaks Kronos' time magic!! Like?! Boy is POWERFUL.

- OUCH - honestly Luke, Thalia and Annabeth's family breaking the way it did... Don't talk to me. Poor Annabeth, Luke betrayed them, Thalia joined the Hunters because of Luke's betrayal so she's pretty much AWOL all the time and then Luke dies. Like Rick wtf, my heart can't take it? -Percy and Tyson having each others backs when talking to Poseidon in the underwater palace is the brother-brother relationship we love to see - Percy trying to stick a sand dollar in the vending machines at school 🤦🏻‍♀🤦🏻‍♀ - the whole underwater interaction at Poseidon's palace? Perfection. Awkward family drama and all - Connor falling out of the tree when he sees Percy because he's so excited 😂😂

- 😭💖

- k, ik Clarisse isn't perfect but tbh if i was a child of Ares whose father was disrespected and hated by my fellow campers (ares deserves it but still) and that disrespect trickled down to how the other campers treated ME (which if Percy is reliable here, it obviously does) then i would also be irritated at being used for muscle and nothing else? And just expected to fight with the people who act as if they'd rather not have Ares kids around the rest of the time. Like Clarisse isn't totally wrong - Percy reading the prophecy, seeing he's meant to die and just being like 'i do not see it' and refusing to outright think about it makes me so sad for him - (but it taints every action after and he's super reckless afterwards bc of it- including finally breaking and accepting the Achilles Curse) - (also him taking this as the last straw and finally beginning to show Annabeth how he really feels, cause fuck it, he's dying anyway) - Give me more info about Rachel's backstory and family Rick!! -  how did i forget Percy willingly eats chocolates that taste like cardboard because 'i didnt have anything against cardboard' like sir? Ik Silena didn't want them but still? - 'she'd always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful' STOP, MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT - Percy staring at Annabeth and forgetting what they're talking about cause hes so distracted 👌🏻

- hmm yeah... For some strange reason.... - i forgot how Percy totally bombs this convo bw them and now want to cry 😭 Annabeth is trying to talk about what's important and Percy, you sweet oblivious man, you're shooting her down without even realizing - love that they're both on the same wavelength tho. Percy two lines before, hmm it's cool to date ppl from other cabins, wonder why im thinking that around Annabeth, my best friend in the world, and then Annabeth a beat later, hmm, let me bring up Silena and Beckendorf and how it's important to be with the people you love when you have the chance, no way Percy will miss this huge hint right? - they're the best - k i honestly forgot Percy full on physically intimidates Leneus like that - luke telling his mom if he ran away the monsters wouldnt get her..i can just imagine luke crying when he says good bye before running away because he thinks it's his fault his mom is like that and he cant take care of and protect her anymore because it's too hard - uh oh now i have angsty pre-lightning thief luke fic inspo... Him, Thalia and Annabeth on the run... The ANGST -  Rick holds absolutely nothing back in this book and i am in pain - HESTIA!! 💖💖🥰 - actual loml - i love that Rick titled this book after her and that he wrote such a great series about the importance of family (biological, found or otherwise) and home, and that he said actually Hestia is the most important bc shes the most humble and keeps the peace and knows when to fight and when to yield and you protect what you love, which is your home - i just... Adore Hestia - Grover! Missed you babes - Hades is so so horrible to Nico, always comparing him to Bianca :/ - but i do love Hades, Persephone and Demeter together they make me laugh - oh god the River Styx - Achilles 🥺 - Annabeth being Percy's lifeline is, and continues to be, A Lot™ - 'my name was Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth's hand.' LOL Why am i crying? - Like the fact there is no Percy without Annabeth, and that remembering her literally reminded him of who he is in his very soul... It's fine im fine - i won't even get into the parallels of her being his lifeline now and then later when Hera takes his memories but leaves the memory of Annabeth for Percy to fight to get back to (anyone who wants to yell about it with me... Feel free to message) - badass Percy is my fav Percy tbh - him defeating Hades?? Like? Hades is arguably the most powerful god, okay - i feel bad for Nico but if i was Percy I'd do the exact same, Nico, sorry man but this is a high stakes time crunch deal and Nico is literally the only hope of persuading Hades and distracted by his own internal stuff - flashbacks to Luke, Thalia and Annabeth hurt, ow - George and Martha are the best - damn i forgot Hermes full on nearly kills Percy here, yikes - Luke stop cockblocking Percabeth challenge

- i love!! Percy's love for New York!! So much!! - Percy leaving to live in New Rome in HoO is a lie and this is all the proof i need for why - the fact the entire last half of the book is the battle and aftermath... Such great buildup and pacing. All the tricks and twists and battles in this War of Manhattan? I would not take out a thing, Rick, you legend - of course then the final battle in hoo with the gods is what? Two pages? Ugh, don’t talk to me about my hatred for BoO and HoO - 'no detours you two' is still the cutest thing!!! - THE HUNTERS!! Thalia i missed you - good job Percy, you finally spent your sand dollar - Minotaur!! - 'dont i get a kiss for luck? Its kind of a tradition right?' Percy finds out he's gonna die and is out of fucks to give and honestly I support him - also Michael just standing beside these two while they're flirting like umm 👀 👀 while a monster army marches towards them, nbd - Annabeth taking Ethan's knife meant for Percy!!! Cause she just knows his weak spot without him even telling her! They literally invented love - Feral Percy is so scary omg, i love how well Rick incorporates the Achilles Curse in this novel, with the whole heightened weaknesses and stuff ans the parallels to Achilles arrogance being what killed him and Percy's loyalty, fierceness and protective instinct being his own heightened weakness - the fact that Percy is the one who inadvertantly kills Michael Yew tho, I'll never recover from that - the fact Hades offers Maria di Angelo a golden palace by the Styx like how Poseidon offers Sally a palace under the sea tho. Let's talk about that parallel - the entire talk with Prometheus is so so good - not me picturing young Luke hiding in the closet to get away from his mom when she has an 'episode' -i love callbacks in stories and all of the callbacks to the rest of the series in this book make me very happy (medusa, minotaur, the underworld, Rainbow!! My baby!!, Daedalus and more) - Percy summoning a wholeass hurricane against Hyperion - the Party Ponies! They're so chaotic, i love it - Dionysus! 😁 I can't help it, i love him - Percy absolutely losing it when he sees Sally and Paul asleep in the car 🥺 - Rachel telling Percy he's not the hero screws with him so much :( poor bb - although i really really love how Rick wrote this, it's so refreshing to not have one chosen one save the world, but a combination of people - the drakon, Silena and Clarisse make me cry - the Patrochilles references, im not okay - Annabeth giving up on Luke after hearing what he did to Silena and Percy telling her that doesn't make him happy 😭 that whole interaction makes my heart ache - Percy giving Hestia Pandora's pithos 🥺 - and Hades, Nico and the others coming for a final attack is so badass, i love it - listen im glad the og trio were the ones to confront Luke on Olympus but the fact Thalia got so close and then pinned by a statue of HERA makes me so sad. Ik her and Luke were finished and she coped by cutting him off completely and giving up all hope but i would pay money to know what they would have said to each other to say goodbye - Ethan 🥺 - Poseidon joining the fight against Typhon is so cool, such a great scene - 'PEANUT BUTTER!' - Annabeth you brilliant badass you - RIP Luke, you werent great but you werent the worst either - the gods just rolling up seconds too late, wondering wtf happened in Olympus and who the dead body is - the chapter where the Olympians meet and give out rewards is one of my absolute favourites (again i am incensed we didn't get anything like this in HoO) - will Percy turning down immortality ever not make me scream in glee? No? Alright then - Annabeth being relieved like Percy was relieved at the end of Titan's Curse tho - oh Hermes :/ - its so hard reading all this and knowing what comes in HoO... Like it's such a cathartic, earned and mostly happy and peaceful ending and then HoO comes along and undermines it all - aww Rick let Paul see Olympus somehow pls, he deserves it, he killed a dracanae - (i would also love to see it) - Percy being more upset Rachel took his pegasus than her going to Camp and possibly dying, lol, priorities dude - i honestly think that Rick had other ideas for the second Great Prophecy and how things would go down in BoO, cause the prophecy like... Barely applies to BoO, Doors of Death are in book four, and explabations of it is all so unclear when Rick is usually pretty good with that stuff - PERCABETH - lol Percy complaining about privacy when he and Annabeth are caught kissing literally in the middle of the very open and public dining pavilion, okay - BEST UNDERWATER KISS OF ALL TIME - that's it and im a glass case of emotion - very happy to say that this series remains my favourite of all time 💖

 If anyone ever wants to come gush about anything Riordanverse related feel free, because as you can see I have a lot of thoughts about it all

[writingpaperghost]

There is a Me Who Can Become Strong (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8: Men, Fly High!

Nico challenges Emu, finally getting her rematch. Later, Kiriya comes to her with a curious request.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32857183/chapters/82613050

While Emu was busy tending to Mr. Okada, Asuna spoke with Shiori, outside the hospital. They were still trying to determine all the sources of Mr. Okada’s stress, especially since Emu had confirmed that he was still infected with the Jet Combat strain.

“The factory hasn’t been doing well,” Shiori admits, sounding concerned, “It’s small and so I tried to help however I could.”

Asuna considered her words, “Maybe the reason your father fired you was so you could focus on your own path?” She offered, “He probably doesn’t want you to get distracted worrying about him or the factory.”

“But I want to help,” Shiori insisted, “So he has no reason to think I’m getting distracted.”

It was probably all more complicated than either of them were really making it sound, but Asuna at least thought she understood where Shiori was coming from. At the same time, she also understood where Mr. Okada was coming from.

As Shiori leaves, Asuna returns into the hospital, intending to give her theory about Mr. Okada’s stress to Emu. Or Saki, even. Someone. She’d tell someone. Finally arriving in the CR, she sees that Emu is still running through checks on Mr. Okada.

Entering the patient room, she finally gets a chance to give her theory, “Could your factory be a part of what’s stressing you?”

“That could be,” Mr. Okada considers, “Workers have been leaving.”

At that moment, as if on cue, Mr. Okada’s Game Disease flared up, glitching appearing on his body. Emu seems to have enough of an idea of where to look, “His factory,” He says quietly to her as they rush out of the room, “I bet that’s where the Bugster is.” Asuna can’t help but agree.

Saki walks into the hallways and intercepts them, “Keep an eye on the patient,” She said, “I’ll head with Asuna. I imagine that Saiba might be there.”

Hesitantly, Emu agrees.

---

Nico is currently camped out in front of a factory. It belongs to the current patient of the CR. She’s overheard Asuna and the lady the Bugster attacked earlier talk about it. As far as Nico is concerned, this is probably a good place to wait for the Jet Combat Bugster. After all, if she was going to beat M, she needed access to Level 3. Which meant she needed the Gashat in the Bugster’s head. It’d gotten away earlier, but she wasn’t letting it get away again. Nope, no way. She wasn’t going to listen to Taiga give her shit about it.

And her plan went exactly as she was hoping, because there was the Bugster! Pulling out the Bang Bang Shooting Gashat, from her relatively newly acquired pouch hidden under her skirt, she’s ready to transform and get that Gashat.

Bang Bang Shooting!

Level Up! Ba-Ba-Bang! Bang-Ba-Bang! Bang Bang Shooting!

Of course, just as she transformed, Saki and Asuna arrive, apparently having come to the same conclusion as Nico had. But M already had Gekitotsu Robots, and Brave the DoReMiFa Beat Gashat, so as far as Nico was concerned, she needed this Gashat more. Besides, this was what she’d set out to do today.

The Bugster is using its jetpack to fly in the air, so Nico uses the most obvious solution. She switches her gun to its rifle mode and takes aim. Luckily, she has pretty good aim, so she’s easily able to hit the Bugster’s jetpack, causing it to begin to fall. Aiming again, she shoots the Gashat out of its head and rushes to get it.

New Gashat now in hand, she strolls over to the Bugster, which now was no longer able to move. How silly, just making a Bugster that needs a Gashat to move. Oh well, it suited her and Taiga’s plans well enough. Grabbing the Bugster, she looks over at Saki and Asuna.

“Brave, here’s the deal,” She begins, “I’m gonna take this Bugster, and you’re going to tell M he’s going to have come fight me. Whoever wins gets the other’s Gashats. Okay?”

Saki frowned, “As if we’d agree to such a thing,”

Nico shakes her head, “No, no, Brave, you tell M. He gets to decide whether or not to agree, not you. You’re not a part of the fight, here.” She gestures towards the Bugster, “Except for in getting this. I just want my proper rematch against M, now.”

She takes off and leaves with the Bugster. This was a bit of an underhanded plan, but Nico had to give it to Taiga, it would do them good. Hopefully, she’d have had her rematch with M, and Taiga would have some more Gashats to study.

---

Emu, Saki, and Director Kagami are in the CR, Saki and the director sitting at the table while Emu paced a bit. Saki had just finished relaying what happened at the factory with Nico.

“She can’t seriously think that Hojo would accept,” The director wondered, “That wouldn’t make sense.”

Saki sighed, “Well, she seems to think he will,” She watches as the director takes a bite of the cake he had. She looks like she’d like some, but is ignoring it. “Of course, we need to find a way to get the Bugster from her.”

Pausing his pacing, Emu looks at the two, “I’m going to accept Nico’s challenge.”

“What?” Director Kagami sputtered, looking incredibly shocked, “That sounds like a terrible idea!”

“Emu,” Saki says carefully, “It’s a terrible danger. We don’t know what she might try. And the risk is too great, she’ll take your Gashats if you lose.”

It looks like Emu’s considering their words, or at least Saki’s. Finally, he says, “It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Nico issued a challenge to Genius Gamer M, I’m not going to turn that down.” He doesn’t quite seem like himself. Normally, he’d be focusing on the patient, but right now… It seemed like allure of the game is more interesting to him, “So I’m going to accept. Then we should be able to get the Bugster defeated, too.”

Standing, Saki says, “You can’t do this, it’s too much of a risk.”

“I’ll be fine,” Emu chirped and something told Saki he really wasn’t acting himself. He gestures to himself, “Genius Gamer M, remember?”

With that, he leaves.

Sighing, Saki decides she might as well check on the patient. She figures she should probably inform him of what happened to his factory. Then she’d have to catch up with Emu to make sure the Bugster is defeated. Asuna joins her as she enters.

“Mr. Okada,” She begins, “I regret to inform you that your factory has… sustained some damages.”

“Saki,” Asuna warns, “Don’t stress him out,”

Mr. Okada just sighed, “It seems I’ll just have to close down, let the employees go.”

Something about that didn’t quite sit right with Saki. “Perhaps,” She began, “You should visit it.”

She couldn’t continue much because Asuna’s already grabbed her arm and is dragging her out of the room. She costume changes to Poppy and glares at Saki, looking unusually exasperated with her, “Why would you suggest that?”

Saki considered for a moment, not entirely sure herself. Then she realized something, “Hearing about the destruction of the factory hadn’t caused him to disappear.”

---

“Hey, Kuroto?” Mu asked, standing by Kuroto’s desk. He can’t see what Kuroto is working on, but he’s pretty sure it’s the last Gashat. Which he’s pretty sure is also Graphite’s, but that was different story. Kuroto looks up, pausing his typing for a moment. “You were already feeling the side effects from the Prototype Gashat by now, weren’t you?”

Kuroto considered for a moment, before answers, “Yes, you’re right. Why do you ask?”

Mu didn’t immediately respond, instead pulling the Proto Mighty Action X Gashat out of his pocket. Finally, he responds, “I don’t think it’s hurting me,” He looked thoughtful, “Though I guess I could just not be noticing.”

“You’d notice,” Kuroto immediately responded, “Even with your pain tolerance, you’d notice.”

“So isn’t it strange that I’m not?”

“It… is,” Kuroto agreed, “It could be the Proto Gashats don’t affect you the same way they do me.” Which Mu thought would be a bit weird, until he thought about it. Then he supposed it made sense.

“Huh,” Mu finally says, “Yeah, I don’t see why it couldn’t be that.”

Kuroto’s eyes fall on the Proto Gashat, before he sighed, “I am going to need the Gashats for a bit,” When Mu gives him an inquisitive and concerned look, he continues, “I have a something I need to take care of. Don’t worry, it won’t be much.”

---

Saki and Asuna arrive at Mr. Okada’s factory, patient in tow. Though the factory is pretty destroyed, there are three workers from the factory who are there, trying to clean up. Mr. Okada watches them intently.

“It wasn’t the factory you were worried about, Mr. Okada,” Saki begins, “It was the workers. You worried for their safety and for their livelihoods.”

The three workers jog up to them, smiling. One of them says, “We’re going to get the factory back up and running, don’t worry boss!” The other two nod in agreement.

Shiori arrives, looking at her father for a moment before apologizing, “I’m sorry,” She said, “For not understanding your reasoning. But I understand now.”

Saki smiled, seeing how happy Mr. Okada seemed at all of this. Perhaps, this was what Emu always meant, when he said that a smile was the proof of your health. At the very least, there was something nice, knowing that all they had to worry about was defeating the Bugster.

---

Emu arrives at Nico’s meeting place, being greeted with the sight of the Bugster tied up, with Nico standing beside it. She’s on her phone, but quickly notices him.

“M,” She grinned, putting her phone in her coat pocket, “You came.”

With just as much of a grin, Emu let himself fall more into the persona of Genius Gamer M and responds, “Of course, who am I to turn down a challenge?”

Pulling out her Gashats and Gamer Driver, Nico laughs a bit, “Good, consider this our rematch.” She quickly transforms into Level 2 – Emu thinks it’s a bit odd that she doesn’t use the Jet Combat Gashat, but doesn’t worry too much about it. “And hey, you can deal with this Bugster if you win.”

Taking out both his Gashats, Emu decides that he’s going to win. There was no way he was losing to Nico, definitely not after last time. He felt a thrill of a challenge, something he hadn’t felt since six years ago.

Mighty Action X!

Gekitotsu Robots!

Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu punch! Gekitotsu Robots!

Immediately taking Level 3, Emu runs towards Nico, dodging out of the way of her bullets and punching at her. Nico dodges to the side, kicking him in retaliation and causing him to stumble a little. He takes his axe and decides that his main plan of attack will be to focus on close combat. Nico only had ranged weapons, so it would be harder for her to block his axe.

He slashes at her, which dodges out of the way of, clearly trying to put some distance between them. Not willing to let her find a way to get an advantage, Emu slashes again, hoping to keep her on the defensive. After one slash, Nico shoots him, despite how close they are, which is enough to give her time to move away so that he can’t easily attack her. His weapon has a gun mode, but Nico had a whole gun, and he was pretty sure she was better equipped for range combat than he was.

The two are preparing to trade blows once more when a familiar jingle plays.

Do-Do-DoReMiFa-So-La-Ti-Do! Ok! DoReMiFa Beat!

Saki has arrived, quickly transforming into Level 3 too. Emu frowns, wondering why she showed up. This fight is supposed to be between him and N, not Saki, him, and N. Saki calls out, “Saiba, give us the Bugster so we can do our duties as doctors and cure our patient!”

Nico huffs, just a bit shy of being a scoff, and shot back, “I’m not a doctor, remember? I don’t have to worry about your patient or whatever.” She looks between the two other Riders, “I just want to have my rematch with M, alright?”

She looks around, “Actually…” Emu doesn’t think that she’s had a change of heart on the matter. She pulls out the Jet Combat Gashat. Well things were going to get harder.

Jet Combat!

Jet! Jet! In the sky! Jet! Jet! Jet Combat!

The Jet Combat Gashat gives Snipe another layer of armor, what appears to be a jetpack on her back, and what are definitely a pair of guns on her sides. Like she didn’t already have enough Gun. The piece that was over one of her eyes, like a bang, has now flipped up. She shoots one of her barrels and quickly grabs the item from it, applying it to the Bugster. The Bugster shrinks and Nico is probably grinning a bit when she says, “Now you can’t just go destroying it.” She points at Saki, “Now, Brave, stay out of this!”

Using the jetpack now on her back, Nico takes to the skies and begins to shoot at the two. Most of the fire is aimed at Emu, though, prompting him to try to block it with Gekitotsu Robots’ arm. He attempts to switch his weapon to gun mode and shoot back, but there’s just too much for him to get a good aim.

It doesn’t take long before Emu’s thrown to the ground, his Gashat’s falling. Ouch, that hurt. And… he lost. He properly lost to N. Well, that was impressive, if a bit annoying. Yeah, he was getting a lecture for this later.

Nico swoops down and grabs the Gekitotsu Robots Gashat. Then she looks over at Saki and contemplates for a moment.

“I tell you what, Brave,” She holds up the Bugster and throws it in Brave’s direction, “Since you didn’t really interfere, you can have the Bugster now!”

For one reason or another, the Bugster is able to fight once more, meaning that Saki had no choice but to turn her attention to the now normal sized Bugster. She attempts to fight the Bugster, only for all too familiar sounds to be heard behind her, up in the sky.

Jet Critical Strike!

The attack hits not just the Bugster, destroying it, but also Saki, knocking her out of her transformation, her Gashats also falling to the ground.

Game Clear!

Nico lands near Saki, picking up the DoReMiFa Beat Gashat. Sounding almost a bit apologetic, she says, “Sorry, Brave. But I have to hold up my end of the bargain now. Can’t just ignore the guy, after all.”

Pushing herself up just a bit, Saki looks up at Nico and asks, “You end of the bargain? With who?”

Removing her Gashats from her Driver, Nico looks down at Saki, seeming thoughtful for a moment. She answers, “I think you know him,” Then adds, “His name’s Taiga.”

---

Kiriya knows precisely who he’s looking for, but he wasn’t expecting the person to come to him. Standing across from him was none other than Kuroto Dan, still dressed far too formally for a man who’s been a wanted criminal for six years.

“I hear,” Kuroto begins, “You’ve been poking into things. Into Gemn.” It’s not clear whether he’s referring to the company or the Rider. Kiriya thinks he might be about to find out.

“Yeah, actually,” He says, steeling himself into a nonchalant tone, “Maybe you could help me with some of that.” It’s not really a question, they both know Kuroto wouldn’t help him.

Kuroto pulls out a Gamer Driver and two Gashats, the ones that Gemn had been using. That pretty much confirmed his theory that, at some point, Kuroto is or has been Gemn. Doesn’t tell Kiriya much about who that other man is, though. Kiriya pulls his own Gamer Driver and Gashat out, ready to fight.

Mighty Action X!

Shakariki Sports!

Bakusou Bike!

Giri Giri Chambara!

Shakariki! Shakariki! Bad Bad! Shaka to Riki to Shakariki Sports!

Giri-Giri-Giri-Giri Chambara!

The two exchange blows, Kiriya with his sickles and Kuroto not with the hammer sword combo they’ve seen before, but some kind of device, like what Graphite had had. As it turned out, the device as a chain saw attached to it. For some reason.

After a bit of fighting, they’re both ready to try and end it.

Giri Giri Critical Finish!

Shakariki Critical Strike!

The attacks knock both of them out of their armor. Kiriya glares at Kuroto and asks, “Who’s that other person who uses those Gashats? The other Gemn?”

Kuroto straightens himself up, looking at Kiriya with something that was probably disdain, “That, is of little importance to you, Lazer.” He sounds far to smug when he speaks, “Though I hear he did a number on you a few days ago.”

Kiriya groaned internally, realizing that trying to get information from Kuroto was probably not going to work. Of course, there’s no point in giving away too much information about your master plan, either.

Continuing, Kuroto points out, with a smug glee, “Which reminds me, isn’t it odd that Para-DX, that Emu Hojo, doesn’t so much as wear a Gamer Driver, let alone use it?” Kuroto gestures to his own Driver and to Kiriya’s, “Or never even had the compatibility surgery? He simply uses Gashats and somehow doesn’t get infected. Perhaps he’s the one you should be looking into, not me.”

As Kuroto leaves, Kiriya does little to try to stop him. It wouldn’t do much good, anyway. He can’t help but admit… Kuroto has a point. Emu doesn’t use a Gamer Driver, but he’s somehow able to transform. Even activating a Gashat alone should have infected him. But somehow, he was able to use them, to transform like the rest of the Riders. What was going on with that? With Para-DX?

He… was going to need some help. From someone who might be able to poke into some different things than what Kiriya could figure out on his own. And lucky for him, he knew just who to ask, assuming she’d help.

---

Nico had already dropped off the Gashats she’d promised Taiga, now she was just sitting in the room she’d commandeered. She wasn’t really sure what to do now. She’d gotten her rematch against M and… It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she’d thought it would have been.

The most obvious answer would be to drop all this and move on with her life. Let Taiga have the Driver and Gashats and be Snipe again. She could go back to gaming and not have to worry about things.

But that didn’t feel quite right. There was just… something here that didn’t quite feel right. She didn’t want to quit being Snipe, at least not yet. She just didn’t know why.

“Yo, Genius Gamer N,” Looking up, she sees Kiriya walking into the room, looking around idly. She’s not sure when he got here, or why, but she is curious.

“Mo-Kujo,” She says, blinking. She watches him for a moment, before asking, “Why are you here?”

Kiriya leans against the wall, ever casual, “I could use your help with something,” He answers, “After all, it sounds like you’re good at digging things up.”

Nico leans back, not taking her eyes off him, “Depends on what it is,” She responds, “What’s this you need my help with?”

“You ever think it’s odd that Ace doesn’t use a Gamer Driver?” He asks, like it wasn’t one of, if not the most, baffling and mysterious things about M. Of course she’d wondered, thought it was odd! She just could never come up with an answer.

“Yeah,” Nico doesn’t want to sound too interested too quickly. While she’s willing enough to trust Kiriya, he’s obviously on the trail of something, she’s not so willing that she’ll trust him a lot, at the moment. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Pushing himself off the wall, Kiriya looks down over his sunglasses, “Well, I’m trying to figure out why,” And that does sound intriguing, “I think there’s a whole lot more going on here.”

Nico considers, for a moment. M has been a big fixture of her life, thinking that there was something odd about him, some mystery… It made her a bit excited, in a weird way. But there was also something else. She’d been looking for an excuse to stay as Snipe, and digging into another Rider would be plenty enough reason.

She was curious and she was excited, which with Nico, could be a bit of a dangerous combination, depending on who you were.

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” She grins, “Just let me know what you need help with.”

---

Graphite stands in front of Kuroto’s desk, rifling through the drawers. Mu looks up from his seat on the couch, the pause sound effect for Jet Combat being heard as he does so. Graphite pauses, for a moment, before continuing.

Hesitantly, Mu asks, “Graphite… what are you doing digging through big bro’s desk?”

Looking up, Graphite presents whatever he’d been looking for. A Gashat, grey colored. Still, Mu can make out the text on it. Drago Knight Hunter Z. The Gashat that would be Graphite’s.

“Why do you need that?” He asks, hoping that his voice doesn’t sound too terribly concerned. Kuroto was out, but he might be upset if he realizes Graphite took the Gashat.

“I have a plan,” Graphite answers, “Would you like to see it start?”

Mu doesn’t really think they should be coming up with plans without Kuroto, but he also doesn’t want his friend to try anything on his own. After several moments of deliberation, Mu finally gives his answer, a hesitant, “Okay.”

They make their way to a rooftop, where Graphite holds the Gashat up. Mu watches warily. In a sudden movement, Graphite stabs the Gashat into himself, startling Mu. While Graphite grunts, Mu just watches as orange, blue, and black glitches streamed out of the Bugster.

Unsure of what he’s seeing, Mu backs away slightly, before moving forward again, reaching out in worry.

[buoyantsaturn]

Be The Very Best (Epilogue)

to: @elibeeli mercy crisis ily!!!

summary: it’s the long awaited sequel to that pokemon fic i wrote like 6 months ago!!

word count: 2,772

read on ao3

“Dartrix, solar beam!”

“Happy, use hyper beam!”

Both pokemon released powerful beams of light at their opponents, colliding in the center of the battlefield with a blinding flash and booming explosion. Will shielded his eyes from the light and held his breath to keep from breathing in the sudden dust rising in the air. As the dust cloud settled over the battlefield, Will looked out at his pokemon to continue the battle, but gasped at the sight of both his blissey and Nico’s dartrix collapsing from overexertion. 

“Both pokemon are unable to battle!” the referee called. “Both trainers are out of usable pokemon, which means...this battle ends in...a tie? No one has ever tied with the champion before! There’s no protocol for this!”

Will ignored the ref as he tried to get his attention - all he could focus on was Nico across the battlefield, returning dartrix to his pokeball with the stiff movements of a broken heart. Will felt his chest constricting at the sight. He had made Nico look like that, so devastated despite neither winning or losing.

Nico turned to leave, and Will jumped into motion. “Nico, wait!” he called out, running across the field to stop him. “You don’t have to leave! You didn’t lose! We can battle again, please!”

Nico stopped in place but didn’t turn to face Will. “That was a pretty good trick you pulled, surprising me like that, but it won’t get me next time. Consider this one a win for yourself. I’ll be back.”

“Nico, please! I don’t want you to leave! We can have a rematch, as soon as both of our pokemon have had a chance to rest. Just come with me, we can all rest here, and you and I can talk, okay?”

Nico’s shoulders tensed. “I need to train. On my own.”

“Just...hang on, for one more second,” Will pleaded, and fished around in the medicine pouch on his belt for a pen and a piece of paper, then scribbled out an address. He pressed the paper into Nico’s hand. “When you’re ready, you can find me there.”

Nico pulled his hand out of Will’s and started walking away from him. 

“Please come back to me,” Will whispered, his eyes welling up with tears. 

He watched as Nico left the chamber, then turned away to wipe at his eyes. He left through the back entrance, which led to the champion’s private room in the Pokemon Center. Being champion didn’t mean his pokemon were any more a priority than anybody else’s, but at least the separate room gave him the privacy to wallow in his sadness - he had the feeling that, somewhere else in the Pokemon Center, Nico was doing the same thing.

One by one, Will’s pokemon returned to him, curling up against his sides or on his lap in an attempt to comfort him. He stroked one hand down sylveon’s back and sighed. “I really messed everything up, huh?”

After allowing his pokemon to rest in the Pokemon Center overnight - though unable to get any rest himself - Nico battled his way back to the base of Mount Lanakila, training his pokemon and evolving his dartrix into a decidueye. He stopped for another rest at the Pokemon Center outside of Tapu Village, then made his way back up through Victory Road to continue training. Once he’d evolved each of his pokemon to their strongest forms, Nico took his pokemon to a rocky cliffside away from the few other trainers at the top of the mountain. 

He brought each of his pokemon out of their pokeballs and stood in front of them. “It’s time for our rematch against Will. You’re all stronger now, and he won’t be able to trick us again like he did last time. We’re going to destroy him, and all of his pokemon, and then I’ll finally be the champion!”

Nico’s pokemon glanced at each other uneasily.

“I know his pokemon are your friends, but that doesn’t mean you can go easy on them,” Nico continued. “They won’t go easy on you, so you have to give it your all. I need you to use all of your power, and prove to me you can be as strong as I need you to be, so show me what you can do. Hit me!”

Decidueye squawked in protest, but Nico glared right back. 

“Come on! Attack me, right now! Gengar, use shadow ball! Marowak, will-o-wisp!”

Gengar and marowak started charging up their attacks to full power, but a harsh look from decidueye had them hesitating, and their attacks barely grazed Nico. “No! I know you can do better than that!” Nico shouted. He tapped the Z-Ring on his wrist and moved to power it up, then looked decidueye dead in the eyes as he called out, “Decidueye, use never-ending nightmare!”

Decidueye bristled and squawked, glaring back at Nico and spreading his wings to appear bigger and more threatening. Suddenly, the mountaintop grew dark, as though something had moved to block out the sun. The ground around decidueye turned black and started to bubble, and decidueye appeared to melt into the shadows. Around Nico, everything disappeared until he found himself standing in a dark void.

The ground beneath his feet began to rumble, and a giant, shadowy hand burst from the ground, towering over him. Another hand appeared at his side, then another in front, another behind, more and more until Nico was completely surrounded, and each giant hand reached out for him, covering him, consuming him. 

Nico screamed, and when he opened his eyes, he was curled up on the ground, knees to his chest and arms covering his head. He screamed until he ran out of air, and flinched when something brushed against his arm. He looked up, gulping down lungfuls of air, and saw mimikyu standing in front of him, her small, true eyes looking over him with concern.

Nico sat up and took in the concern from the rest of his pokemon.

“Let’s keep going.”

When the Pokemon League was built, the Island Kahunas also built a private residence for the champion on the side of the mountain. Will moved into this house when he became champion, though he rarely spent any time there as he was usually traveling between the islands and training. Recently, however, he had spent the last week or so locked up in his house with only his pokemon to keep him company as he mourned his ruined relationship.

There was a knock on his door, and Will groaned at the thought of one of the Pokemon League workers appearing to inform him of another challenger. Will rose from the couch, dislodging all of his pokemon except for komala who clung to his leg even as he walked across the room to the door. 

He opened the door with a heavy sigh, but when he saw Nico on the other side, his heart did a backflip. He was torn between feeling relieved at Nico’s return, and concerned by Nico’s current state. He looked horrible - he was pale, with dark bags under his eyes, and he was leaning heavily against the doorframe, looking like he might collapse at any second. 

Will wanted to reach out for him, but he hesitated with his hand held out between them. “Nico?”

“I’m here for my rematch,” he rasped.

Will frowned, and this time he did reach out for Nico. “Okay, come inside and I’ll--”

“No!” Nico snapped, and moved away from Will’s grasp, stumbling back a few steps before righting himself and returning to his lean against the doorframe. “Don’t touch me!”

“Nico, you look like you haven’t slept in days,” Will argued. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” Nico snarled, baring his teeth and looking like he was some kind of feral animal. “Just battle me so I can prove you wrong and become the champion.”

“Prove me wrong…? Nico, please, just come inside and take a seat. I want to talk to you before we battle, okay? I swear, I didn’t mean to lie to you for so long, but--”

“I don’t want to talk!” Nico screamed, and pushed himself off the doorframe to stand on his own. He didn’t last long, wobbling on his feet almost immediately as one of his pokeballs opened on his belt and decidueye appeared behind him. He gave Nico a gentle push forward, and Nico fell into Will’s arms, unconscious.

Will looked to decidueye in a panic. “Is he okay?”

Decidueye shook his head.

Will took a deep breath and scooped Nico into his arms. He carried him into the house, taking him to the bedroom and setting him gently on the bed. He took Nico’s pokeballs from his belt before covering him with a blanket, and closed the door behind him when he left the room.

He brought out each of Nico’s pokemon to look them over, afraid at first that Nico may have been neglecting them for the last week, though when they all appeared healthy and happy to see him, Will realized that Nico had just been neglecting himself.

Nico felt himself choking on the darkness that consumed him, and his eyes snapped open. The room around him was dark, but no so much so that Nico couldn’t see the bed he laid on or the outlines of posters on the walls. He had no idea where he was, and didn’t even remember anything after being hit with decidueye’s never-ending nightmare, so he sat up and looked around. A quick peek over the side of the bed told him almost everything he needed to know - Will was asleep on the floor, his hand stretched out toward Nico.

Nico felt his chest constricting at the sight. He stretched his arm out hesitantly, like he was afraid Will would pull away from him despite being asleep, and curled his fingers around Will’s. He held on to Will’s hand as he lowered his head back down to the pillow and fell back asleep.

When he woke up again, his hand was empty, and sunlight was streaming in through the windows. He slipped out of bed and left the room, and found an empty house before him. He wandered around for a few moments until a glance out a window showed a few of his pokemon playing outside - it made sense; drifloon was probably too big to fit inside the house comfortably.

He approached the sliding glass door that led outside, and exited the house as quietly as he could. Nico spotted each of his pokemon, as well as all of Will’s, and his heart stopped when he saw Will laughing and playing along with the pokemon.

“I can’t believe how big you’ve all gotten!” Will commented right before palossand tackled him to the ground.

Nico was too distracted by the sight to notice Will’s bewear sneaking up beside him until he was being lifted off the ground. “Hey, put me down!” Nico exclaimed, and struggled against bewear’s hold as he carried Nico toward the rest of the group. 

Bewear sat down on the grass and held Nico in his lap like a teddy bear, and the rest of Will’s pokemon soon came bounding over to greet him. Nico couldn’t help the small smile that bloomed on his face as ribombee settled on Nico’s head. “Yeah, uh huh, I missed all of you, too,” Nico said, feigning annoyance. 

He looked between each of the pokemon, and his eyes drifted toward Will, who was watching him with a sad look on his face, and Nico dropped his gaze. He felt a wave of guilt washing over himself as he thought of how childish he had been, and how he’d most likely ruined his relationship with Will over a single battle. 

“I missed you too, you know,” Will said softly, and Nico tensed, afraid to look up at him.

“I-- Yeah, me too.”

“How are you feeling?” Will asked. Nico wished he would just skip over the small talk and break up with him already instead of making Nico wait for it. When Nico didn’t immediately answer, Will continued, “You were pretty out of it when you got here. I’m kind of surprised you managed to find this place in that state.”

Sylveon crawled into Nico’s lap and started butting her head against Nico’s palm until he started petting her. “I’m fine,” Nico told him. “I’m still angry with you.”

Will sighed, and pulled his knees to his chest. “I know. I’m sorry I never told you. I wanted to, but I didn’t know how, and then I felt like it was too late. I never meant to trick you, or psych you out during the battle - that wasn’t some strategy of mine, or anything like that. I want you to win, you know? Because you deserve it more than I do, but I still have to put up a good fight or else it wouldn’t be fair, right?”

Nico nodded. “I do still want my rematch...if that’s what you’re getting at.”

Will snorted. “Oh, I know you do. You made that very clear when you showed up here yesterday, but I couldn’t let you fight when you weren’t in your right mind. I would’ve have battled you until we talked, anyway, so that I could, you know…” Will ducked his head, suddenly very interested in the grass beneath him and looking almost embarrassed as he continued, “hopefully apologize until you’re not mad at me anymore, and then maybe you would...take me back?”

Nico’s head snapped up in surprise. “You still want to be with me?”

Will scratched the back of his neck in discomfort. “Of course I do, I lo--hmm. I like you, like, a lot, and I know I messed up, but I promise you, no more lies, no more secrets.” He took a deep breath. “So? What do you say, will you take me back?”

Nico frowned. “Of course I will! I thought you wouldn’t want me back after I acted like a child when I lost!”

“But you didn’t lose,” Will reminded him, rising to his feet. “We tied, remember? And if we tied when you were distracted - again, my fault, sorry - then there’s no doubt you’ll win next time!” He stepped toward him, holding a hand out to Nico. “So? Ready for your rematch?” Will grinned and wiggled his fingers. “I’ll even let you skip past the elite four to battle me again.”

Nico smiled and took his hand. “Yeah. But breakfast first.”

Nico and Will met at the center of the battlefield, shaking hands once before Will pulled him forward and met Nico’s lips for a kiss.

“Good luck,” he said softly, smiling down at his boyfriend.

Nico smiled back. “Right back at you.”

They took their places at opposite ends of the field and revealed their first pokemon as the referee called the start of the battle.

One by one, Nico and Will took down each other’s pokemon until they were each down to their last of six - Nico’s marowak and Will’s bewear. As their fire spin and takedown collided in the center of the battlefield, both pokemon were thrown backwards.

“Marowak and bewear are both unable to battle,” the referee announced. “Once again, both trainers are out of usable pokemon, and this battle ends in a tie!”

Nico returned marowak to her pokeball and fell to his knees, cradling the pokeball to his chest. “Not again,” he whispered, trying to keep his emotions from getting the best of him once again.

He looked up just in time to see Will dropping to his knees in front of him, sliding a bit on the ground and reaching up to cradle Nico’s face in his hands. “I have an idea!” Will announced, a bright smile on his face. “Clearly we’re both evenly matched, right? And we know we work well as a team--”

“What are you getting at, Will?”

“Co-champions,” Will said, resting his forehead against Nico’s. “There are gyms in other regions that have co-leaders who fight double battles. Why can’t we have a championship double battle here?”

“Co-champions?” Nico repeated.

Will’s bright smile started to fade. “If you need time to think about it, that’s okay--”

“No, I want to! That sounds perfect, Will. We can stay here together, train together…” His heart flipped in his chest as he realized something. “We’ll live here together. Are you sure you’re okay with that?” 

“It sounds amazing,” Will told him, and pressed his lips to Nico’s. “C’mon. Let’s go heal up our pokemon, and then we can head home.”

thanks for reading!!

buy me a coffee

[copper-wasp]

Laser Tag - Dante x Reader

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Pairing: Dante/Reader

Rating: T

Words: 1663

Also posted to AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18719848

“Oh, boys. You are so gonna lose,” you said, strapping on the laser-tag vest, pulling the straps tightly to your chest. Straightening your shirt, you gave a steely look to the silver haired man in front of you. He looked completely nonplussed, inspecting the plastic gun he had been given.

“Doubt it,” said Dante, taking a step towards you. He was much taller than you, but you had no intention of backing down, tilting your head up to meet his eyes with a cold glare. [E/C] stared into blue for a long moment, your eyes narrowing in challenge. He broke first, barking out a loud laugh and clapping you on the shoulder as you covered your mouth with your hand, trying and failing to stifle your own giggle.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Lady whined, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you out of Dante’s orbit, “No fraternizing with the enemy!”

“The enemy?” V said, looking confusedly at the blinking LEDs on his vest. “I thought this was all in fun.”

“Fun? No way! We’re gonna get absolutely destroyed by them,” Nero said dramatically, trying to shine the laser into Dante’s eyes. “These women are vicious.”

Dante quickly grabbed the gun out of Nero’s hands, twirling it by the trigger guard just out of his reach. “Have some confidence, deadweight. You do have me on your team,” he stated, flashing a dazzling smile at the young man. Dante tossed the gun up, striding away as Nero snatched it out of the air, fuming at his unfortunate nickname.

“We’ll only gloat a little when we beat your asses,” Nico added, pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail. “Now come on, Lady, let’s talk strategy,” she said, taking the other woman by the arm and walking away from the boys.

You had propped your foot up on a bench, retying the laces on your Doc Martens when Dante sat down next to where you stood, dragging his eyes obviously from your polished leather toes up to your face. “You don’t really think you can beat me, do you, [Y/N]?” he asked, swatting your hands away when you went to retie the other boot’s laces. He quickly tied them for you, hands deftly knotting the cords securely. He caught your eye, a little smirk playing on his lips and you blushed, putting your foot back on the floor. You rolled up the sleeves of the denim shirt you were wearing, bending over a little to level your eyes with his. He slid his eyes down to your cleavage, lingering there for a long moment before reluctantly dragging his gaze back up to your face.

“I guess you’ll find out soon,” you replied, moving your mouth next to his ear. “I’m going to wipe the floor with you, cowboy,” you whispered, pushing the barrel of your gun against his chest. You pulled away, Dante’s scent following you, citrus and lavender and heat. He chuckled darkly, hooking his index fingers into the front pockets of your jeans, keeping you from moving any further away from him.

“We’ll see....” he remarked, scrutinizing your face before he stood, body nearly touching yours. “Good luck, sweet cheeks.” You glowered at him, no real dislike in the look, before taking a step back and heading over to huddle with your teammates.

“So, what’s the plan?” you asked, eyes flitting between Lady and Nico.

“Divide and conquer,” Nico said with a smirk, laying out an iron-clad strategy. A minute later, all three of you were nodding in understanding, a solid plan formed to take down the boys.

“So, I’ll take on V; Nico, you keep Nero busy, and [Y/N], you’ll take care of Dante, ok?” Lady said, doing some last minute checks on her gear.

“Gotcha,” you replied, “leave the Legendary Dumbass to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were strobing lights and metallic sounds all around you. Neon glow-in-the-dark painted set pieces were scattered throughout the arena, fog machines providing the perfect addition to the Post-Apocalyptic theme. All the props were broken, smashed, or otherwise damaged to add to the ambiance. How fitting, you thought, just like being on a job.

As soon as the buzzer sounded, the plan was put into action - the three of you immediately separating V, Nero, and Dante, driving them to different areas of the arena. You lost Dante in the fog and flashing lights pretty quickly, which, to be fair, you were expecting; the man was practically the Flash, born with innate speed and dexterity.

You heard a very loud, very Nero-sounding “Damnit!” a minute later, followed by a very bored-sounding voice over the intercom reminding you to watch your language. You chuckled, mentally congratulating Nico on her no doubt masterful takedown of the cocky young hunter.

You were tensed, completely on edge, eyes peeled for Dante’s form, ready for him to round any corner. V had the misfortune of running into you, and you immediately shot at him before he could even raise his gun to aim at you, flashing red lights exploding over his chest. He groaned, turning on his heel and calmly walking away from you.

You saw Lady streak by you a few moments later, skirt swishing as she chased after the tattooed man. You kept walking briskly around the outer perimeter of the space, head on a swivel, trying to locate the half-demon. A second, equally loud “Damnit!” resounded throughout the arena, and you clearly heard Nico cackle in absolute joy. The bored voice sounded over the speakers once again, sighing before giving the language spiel for the second time in ten minutes.

“Where the hell are you, Dante?” you growled lowly, peeking around a corner. Seeing it was empty, you crept past a fake storefront painted to look as if it would crumble any moment, green and orange dented trash cans on either side. Your boots stirred up the fog, the nearly opaque smoke swirling around your ankles. You softly stepped down the corridor, slowing nearly to a crawl as you neared the next corner.

Hearing a creak, you pressed your back against the end of the wall, gun poised and ready, a big grin on your face. You sprung around the corner, a jubilant “HAH!” leaving your lips, pulling the trigger of your laser-gun and having it make contact with... nothing but air. A dead end was before you, neon graffiti of a smiley face sticking its tongue out at you painted on the wall.

Sighing annoyedly, you went to turn back to continue your search, when you felt the stiff plastic barrel of a gun press between your shoulder blades. “...Shit,” you said resignedly, raising your hands in surrender.

A fingerless-gloved hand grabbed your gun out of your grip, the barrel of the other one pushing insistently on your back, coaxing you to move further into the dead end. You went along with it, rolling your eyes at how Dante was teasing you. Once you reached the end, a hand grabbed your shoulder, turning you around to face your would-be laser murderer.

Dante looked at you with a huge shit-eating grin, the black lights making his teeth glow an unnaturally bright white.

“All right, you got me. Take your shot,” you grumbled, hands still raised in surrender. For extra comedic effect, you closed your eyes, twisting your features into an exaggerated grimace, awaiting the telltale vibration of your vest as the laser made contact with the sensor.

For a moment you didn’t feel anything, and you were tempted to crack on eye open to see why he was taking so long. “Dante?” you asked, just to see if he’d respond. You noticed a soft rush of air blow past you as something moved into your space, smelling the bite of citrus, and feeling a soft pair of lips press against yours.

Your eyes shot open, seeing nothing but Dante’s closed ones as he kissed you, gently working his mouth against yours. His free hand wove into your hair, tugging a little to angle your head a certain way to get a better seal over your lips. Your eyes fluttered shut once again, raised hands finding purchase on his shoulders, gripping them tightly. You kissed him back eagerly, increasing the pressure and you felt him hum appreciatively against you.

Your hands caressed up to the sides of his neck, ends of his soft locks brushing against your fingers. He nipped at your bottom lip and your mouth opened slightly with a gasp of surprise. He took the opportunity to slide his tongue in past your lips, tentatively touching yours. You were sure you were melting, electric shocks firing down your spine with each soft, experimental touch. He tasted like heat, like sin, a pure addiction that you never wanted to kick.

You pressed your body against his, needy for more contact, and you felt his other hand, still holding onto both of your guns, press into your lower back, pulling you close to him. You licked into Dante’s mouth, wanting more of his taste, a small moan escaping from your chest. He moved his hand to the side of your neck, sucking your bottom lip between his two, drawing another lusty noise from you. He chuckled, placing one more gentle peck on your lips before he moved away, fingertips lingering on your neck, little prickles of heat dancing on your skin.  

He grabbed your hand, pressing your laser gun back into your palm. Without saying a word, he backed up a few steps, his eyes never leaving yours, and pointed his gun at your chest, firing right into the bullseye. Red flashes erupted in your peripheral vision as your mouth dropped open, a look of complete indignation spreading over your face. He grinned, super white teeth mocking you.

“You ASSHOLE!” you shouted, stamping your foot  like a toddler. He gave you a tiny salute before turning quickly and disappearing around the corner, fog swirling after him.

The intercom crackled; “Language!”

Thank you for reading!!

You can also find me on:

AO3: copper_wasp

Twitter: @copper_wasp_

[yuki-d-raizel-blog]

Number 1333

Chapter 5/??

Summit: What happens if a mysterious prisoner joins the chaotic Cell 13? He is perfect for the Nanba Prison, his name is synonym of terror and cruelty; each time he was sent to a new prison, he broke out in less than an hour. Will the Nanba Prison succeed to keep him jailed or not…?

---

As planned by Ayu and expected by Hajime and Jyugo, Uno starts to play seriously and the colorful combo begins to miss cards.

<<You think I win at gambling just by cheating? How naïve!>> says in provocation Uno, <<Playing against you isn't even a challenge!>>

<<Move Trois, let me handle this.>> Honey sits but Number 11 wants to make them feel really vulnerable.

As if Number 33 read his mind, he sits up and smiles amused, <<This match is over, give up already.>>

<<What?! You should be quiet since you slept all the time!>>

[After many, many years-]

Once again, the rival team didn't get the card in time. Using their confusion as a stimulus, Ayu supports Uno with his tricks.

<<Even if I slept, I saw your weaknesses.>> he says, <<You have three tells; your teammate has two of them. Showing your vices so openly to veteran in gambling like us, your superior must be an idiot.>>

<<Should I tell them, Ayu?>> Jyugo and his friends see that between those two there's a deep connection, but surely, they shouldn't be in the same team again, they are terrifying!

<<Why not, it will be very funny.>>

[The opposite combo turned into the affinity combo!! These guys are smart, so keep hide your cards boys!] Mitsuru and his jokes... Ah, what was his job in this prison again?

<<As my friend said, you’ve three tells. One, you follow the card you're about to grab with your eyes.>> Honey's body twitched surprised, Uno hit the spot, <<Two, your center of gravity leans to the right, so you're especially fast when grabbing cards on the right side. And last but not least, your middle finger; you have the habit of pointing with your middle finger instead of your index finger.>>

"How did he find it out?!" thinks Honey remembering all his actions during the game, "I didn't do anything that could lead to my- It was his friend? But, he slept all the time, how?" after another provocation from his opponents, Number 82 loses his composure, <<Screw you, bastards! You've must've rigged something! You freaking cheaters!>>

<<I'll tag in!>> Trois replaces his teammate, but the situation doesn't change, he can't get the card before his rival, <<How....?>>

<<You showed your naughty vices too.>> says Uno feeling so good, turning the table in a situation like this is something that he lives for.

<<Such stupidities! I don't have any!>>

<<You open your mouth slightly when you move to the right, and close it tightly when you move to the left.>> Trois covers his mouth instinctively, he barely knows about it, and Ayu keeps going with a threatening look, <<You blink once when reaching for the cards nearby, and twice if the card is far away. Surprised to discover something about yourself that even you didn't know?>> Ayu stands up and waits patiently.

<<Even without hearing any sound, it's easy to figure out as long as I can see you.>> now even Uno's eyes are mirroring Ayu's, <<Remember this, you damned amateurs; it's not that easy to win a game!>>

Under the loud cheers exploded after Uno's wish, the Number 11 wins easily the game and the stadium goes wild again. Mitsuru screams as always, another victory for the Building 13 that keeps topping the rank, while Uno throws his hat and brags for his victory even if he isn't handsome as his opponents.

Walking back to the bleachers, Number 33 gives back the hat and stays silent, but his friend has tons of questions now that he cooled down and his brain remembers clearly what happened.

<<You discovered their habits faster than me, right?>> asks Number 11 smiling, <<Where did you learn it?>>

<<I got them after the first change they did, they were too easy to read for me.>> replies the inmate, <<I've learnt it for my work. A lot of my targets were people who played cards, my eyes got used to certain things.>>

<<I was surprised that you were that fast, that's all.>> comments the other, <<And the psychological pressure that you put on them was superb, my compliments.>>

<<I remember you that I'm an assassin, I can play with people's minds as toys, you know?>> his voice doesn't have emotions at all, it's totally different from before.

<<So... you still kill people?>>

<<I came here for my last target, I didn't find it all around the world, so I'll wait here for now. I will die inside a prison anyway, I can take my time with this one.>>

<<That's bad, buddy! Also, please give a tone to your voice, it's too dull, it's a little creepy.>>

<<I understand your point, but since I grew up in a different world, what's bad for you, is normal for me.>> Ayu pulls his hood and keeps talking, <<And I'm sorry for my voice, it's just... I don't know how to use it when I'm not in a mission, so I don't know how to react to your words or what type of voice should I pick... Sorry.>>

"I guess it's linked with his assassin work. I won't ask anything about it, not my business." <<Don't apologize for it, man! We'll teach you how to live normally!>> Uno puts his arm around his friend's shoulder and smiles warmly, <<Next time, let's play some card games together!>>

When they go back, the next stage is done, and the two prisoners keep asking themselves why there is a huge hole in the middle of the arena, but Seitarou and Yamato's voices distract them. The group praises the two winners and Hitokoe announces the next event.

[Only two more events left in the New Year's Tournament! The next one is... top spinning!!] even Mitsuru is excited for this one, he keeps jumping here and there on his personal moving bleacher, [What you'll need for this game is probably teamwork! Spin these giant tops at the center of the stage, the top that either pushes the other off the stage or destroys the other wins!]

<<Destroy?!>> exclaims everyone, how should they destroy something huge like that bare handed? It's more than impossible!

[I will now announce the teams! They've been winning all the events thus far! Building 13 is led by the almighty superhuman gorilla, Hajime Sugoroku!]

<<Who the hell are you calling gorilla?!>>

<<The perfect name for you! Hahaha, my stomach hurts!>> Gokuu laughs to provoke his rival, but when is his turn to be announced...

[Their opponent, Building 5, Cell 8, is led by the moronic monkey with a low IQ, Samon Gokuu!]

<<That's basically means that I'm stupid! Mitsuru, you bastard!>> and Hajime's laugh makes it even worse, "Which inmate will fight? Number 33 is too dangerous, Cell 8 can't handle him. The others don't seem to be trained, unless Number 69. Who you choose, Hajime?" <<Let's go, Number 71, Number 58!>> with that doubt in mind, Gokuu jumps inside the battlefield.

While the members of the Cell 13 are shocked by Nico's reaction, Ayu recognized the prisoner Number 71, but before he could remember his abilities, a loud sound distracts him. Nico drags Hajime in the ring, and he's forced to participate by the cheers of his prisoners and the people all around the stadium.

"Qi, a pharmaceutical chemist, who creates drugs using plants, right? That's why there's this strange smell in the air." Ayu sits on a bench and relaxs a bit, he can't handle anymore all those sounds, when he can go back? "One more game, one more and then you can have all the silence you want. The silence is my only alley, someone says that it's the sound of loneliness, but I think that being a quiet place is the best. No sounds, no pain, only a little symphony... The darkness, the silence and that melody are my only friends that really understand me. Or at least... that's what I thought."

---Continue...

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

[spinji]

Human Boyfriend 101: Chapter 6

A simple time together to lighten the tension and catch up on things. But can this lead a relationship to the worst place of all?

“I told you Beast’s plan was dumb! I’m just going back to stalking him.” Bill huffed as Tom sat next to him, tightly clutching a bowl of cereal.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” Tom mumbled, shoving another spoonful into his mouth.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Bill gave him a perplexed look.

“Stresh eatin!” Tom yelled between the squishing noises of him chewing, finally speaking again once he swallowed. “Marco’s coming over to hang out today and I’m a little on edge.” he sighed.

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a human.” Bill rolled his eye.

“Speaking of which you better get out of here. I need to get ready.” Tom hopped off his bed and shooed the dream demon away with his free hand.

“Fine, sheesh, good luck kid.” Like always, Bill was gone before Tom could reply to that. It’s not like he would've anyway since he was focused at his bathroom mirror now, the overpowering scent of hair spray filling the air as he fixed his magenta locks into the gravity defying position he liked to keep it in, being especially thorough today. Tom couldn't help but feel like he was on thin ice with Marco. Even if Marco was smiling at the end of their Mackie Hand movie date he had still botched it horribly. He’d gotten too greedy and tried to use the date to also pass his anger management by lying to his life coach and saying that he still hated Marco the most.

He knew somewhere deep down that Marco didn't resent him for getting mad and destroying the tickets but that didn't stop his anxiety from bringing up the alternative as a possibility.

Tom continued to fuss with his hair and guyliner until he heard a ripping noise out in his bedroom. Poking his head back into the room he saw Marco step out of a freshly formed portal before pocketing his dimensional scissors.

“Hey Tom.” the boy smiled and gave a simple wave. Tom slinked out of the bathroom.

“Hey Marco, good to...to see you again.” he rubbed his arm awkwardly.

“You too dude.” Marco smiled sweetly before digging into the cloth bag he was holding. “I got that new fighting game Immortal Fighter 5. I thought I’d wait to play it with you since Star doesn’t exactly get video games. She almost broke the tv last time.”

Tom snickered slightly and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like Star. But sure man, I’ll play with you. My system is over there.” Tom casually pointed behind him to where his tv and bean bags were. Macro followed his friend over and set his bag of snacks down and handed the game to Tom.

“So I haven’t seen you in a while. What’s new?” Marco asked as he plopped down on one of the bean bags.

“What do you mean? It’s only been like a week.” Tom’s middle eye raised its eyebrow.

“Oh, sorry. I’m trying to remember that 16 years in Hekapoo’s dimension was only 8 minutes here.” Marco shrugged. Tom nearly dropped the game and stumbled to catch it again.

“You were in Heckapoo’s dimension?! I...guess that explains why you seemed so happy when I texted you earlier.”

“Yeah, but I got my own scissors now.” Marco smiled and held up the dimensional scissors from his pocket.

“Whoa…” Tom grinned and snapped his fingers, a small flame appearing on his finger tips. He held the flame to the scissors, illuminating Marco’s name engraved on that scissors.

“That is so cool!”

Marco smiled. “Thanks, it took a lot to get them.”

“I bet. I only learned teleportation magic because I gave up on her challenge.” Tom turned back around to put the game into his system.

“So what’s going on with you?” Marco asked as he put the scissors away again. Tom gave a shy smile and itched the back of his neck.

“Well, I graduated anger management finally…”

Marco smiled brightly. “Congratulations Tom.”

“Yep, no more obnoxious regiments to follow and Brian actually gets out of my hair every once in awhile.” Tom strolled over to a large cage, scooping up a familiar ball of fluff.

“And I got to keep little Marshmallow.” the demon beamed adorably, holding up the fuzzy pink rabbit with pride.

Marco giggled at the sight of Tom’s therapy pet, gently reaching over to pet Marshmallow once Tom sat down and set him in his lap.

The small bunny nuzzled Marco’s hand after sniffing it thoroughly. He had not a care in the world as he inched closer to Marco’s hand before flopping out of Tom’s lap and in between the two bean bag chairs with a squeak. Marco chuckled and picked him up. “You silly bunny…”

Tom smiled at their antics. “He likes you.”

Marco smiled back and set Marshmallow in his lap, letting him curl up in the diamond shaped gap made by his crossed legs as Marco picked up his controller as the game's first cutscene began to play, stringing together a ridiculous plot to attempt to give a reason for all of these colorful characters to be fighting each other in a brutal tournament.

Despite the lack of sense in the story itself, the boys marveled at the improved graphics and new characters, Marco particularly eying a new ninja character. They didn't speak a word, only communicating through conjuring gold Japanese characters that the subtitles translated into English. Stone cold like the metal in his blade, so cool!

Once the boys were allowed to pick their fighters Marco’s cursor took the shortest route possible to that guy, apparently named Nicos. Tom casually scrolled his cursor through the remaining cast, selecting and deselecting a few times before landing on one that caught his attention. A busty woman named Sonita, with flowing purple hair and black curled horns growing from the sides of her head, with an outfit that made it very clear why this was a T rated, almost M rated, game to say the least. With their fighters chosen the round began.

“I will not lose my honor to you.” Nicos’s text read as he dropped onto the platform.

“I won’t go easy on you darling.” Sonita quipped as she joined him on the other side. After a quick test of the jump, block, and basic attacks they took off into the battle.

“Whoa! This guy is fast.” Marco laughed as he frantically moved his controls so he didn’t fall right off the floating stage.

Sonita jumped him quickly, firing energy attacks toward Nicos. Taking a few hits, Nicos darted down to a lower platform on the stage. Sonita attempted to follow but the ninja was already across the platform and jumping back up to the middle platform by the time she got down.

“Hey, get back here!” Tom glared slightly at the tv as he continued to chase him.

Marco laughed and jumped around teasingly at the top of the stage. Sonita double jumped and went into a quick float as she reached the same platform. Nicos ran up to the edge of the stage and hit her with a flurry of swipes from his katana causing the demon girl to fall, just barely catching the edge of the platform.

A power up spawned next to her and quickly ran to it, Tom spending a few seconds to figure out which button would let her use it. The screen darkened as a purple glow formed around Sonita. In Marco’s panicked attempt to get away from the special attack Nicos ended up on the exact same platform as Sonita was on.

“Ha! Check this out!” Tom grinned as large balls of energy circled Sonita before launching toward Nicos in a hypnotizing swirling pattern. Marco yelped and attempted to dodge the attack but Nicos was met with a brutal hit as Sonita muttered incantations in an unknown language.

“Aw, what? How’d you survive that?” Tom pouted as Sonita finished her special attack animation. Nicos had managed to dodge the attack just enough so there was the smallest speck of health left on his health bar. Marco prepared to hold out as long as he could before Tom managed to hit him just once to end the match but then he noticed, Sonita wasn’t moving, and her head was stuck in the bottom of the overhead platform.

Tom frantically moved his joystick around and she wouldn’t move. He started mashing his buttons and although she performed the animations she was still stuck in place. In fact, jumping a few times seemed to get her more stuck. Marco covered his mouth, struggling not to laugh at the bug.

Tom growled, leaving scratch marks on his controller as he started getting angry. Marco dropped his smile when he heard Tom snarling in frustration, glancing around to see what could calm him down. His eyes went back to his own character, nearly dead and in a wounded idle position, and smiled slightly. Nicos shuffled toward the still struggling Sonita.

“Hey, Tom.” Tom glanced up when Marco called his name. Marco motioned toward the screen, Nicos was within Sonita’s attack range.

“You deserve it, it’s a new game so you gotta expect some glitches.” Marco gave him a warm smile and set his controller down.

Tom cracked a soft smile and Sonita dealt the finishing blow. The animation slowed down as Nicos fell to the ground with a yell of pain echoing through the now silent battleground.

“Do not doubt my skills, mortal.” Sonita remarked as it zoomed in on the victor.

Both of the boys couldn’t help but laugh as the victory music swelled and the camera zoomed in on Sonita’s head sticking out of the top of the platform, her entire model starting to twitch rapidly as it attempted to move into her victory pose. Tom clutched his stomach as he laughed at the silly glitch, Marco having tears in his eyes from laughing.

“Oh my god, that was great.” Marco said once they both calmed down.

“Yeah…” Tom snickered before scooping Marshmallow up from Marco’s lap to make sure he was completely calm after the brief frustration of the glitch. He sighed and relaxed in his chair, running his fingers through the bunny’s short soft fur.

Marco raised an eyebrow when he heard a low vibrating noise before glancing over at Tom. He looked like he was in absolute bliss, sinking into the cushy beanbag with an adorable bunny on his chest. Marco soon realized the sound was coming from him. Was he purring?

The boy shifted in his bean bag and noticed Tom’s long pierced ear twitch as he came out of his zen state. Marco couldn’t help but smile.

Tom raised an eyebrow when he noticed. “What?”

“Nothing, you’re just kinda like a cat.” Marco snickered.

Tom felt a faint flash of heat on his face. “Sh-shut up man…”

Unfortunately, the compliment caused him to start purring again. Marco couldn’t help but test his boundaries as he stretched out his arm and lightly brushed his fingers against the back of his ear. Tom jumped slightly from the unwelcomed touch as Marco gently scratched behind his ear. His purring got louder as he started leaning into Marco’s hand, unable to control his positive response to the contact.

“Like a fire breathing kitty cat.” Marco teased as he let his hand fall away from his ear.

“I don’t breathe fire, jerk.” Tom lightly punched his shoulder as his blush faded.

Marco squirmed out of his bean bag and stretched after a few more hours of various games and munching down snacks.

“I gotta head home. You can keep the snacks Star will just tear into them in the middle of the night anyway.”

“Alright, thanks.” Tom smiled and got up as well, popping his spine as he stretched.

Marco pulled out his scissors and cut open a portal in front of him. “I’ll see you later, Tom.” Marco smiled.

Tom smiled back, his arms outstretching a bit to offer a hug but Marco turned away before he could notice.

“See ya…” Tom mumbled as the portal shut behind the human.

Tom sighed and fell onto his bed, despite Marco’s friendlier tone towards him he was still distant towards him physically. The only time he touched him today was just to make fun of his purring.

What if Marco will only see him as a friend? He said his date with that other girl didn’t lead to anything but that didn’t make Tom a worthy candidate. The demon clutched the blankets under him and huffed before hearing his bedroom door open.

A servant slipped inside, not daring to actually set his feet inside the room. “Master Tom, the King requests your presence in the throne room.”

Tom sighed and crawled off of his bed, following the servant out of the room.

Just a little fluff chapter before some bigger developments and an excuse to make some cute head canons with Tom.

SO as of right now if I get two more chapters in before Star vs. starts again in November (which isn't likely but I do have a floor plan for these chaps) I'm going to wait on updates with Tom's story until the season is over so that any information about Tom's parents is accurate. I'm sure you guys are used to long wait times with these but I'm letting you know that this one will be intentional.

Got a question? The ask box is at your mercy!  Follow the blog for more HB101 and other nonsense!

Chapter 5 <===> Chapter 7

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: (SAT) UCONN RALLIES LATE TO BEAT OR BU

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The hockey gods were in Hartford Friday night. The Huskies were outplayed in the final 39 of the game's 40 minutes. They made the last 1:19 of play count and won 4-3 in overtime on Sasha’s Payusov’s game-winner 19 seconds into overtime. BU’s Patrick Curry turnover went to Brian Freeman on the left-wing and he sent the pass across to Payusov and he put his 12th of the season and second game-winner into the net for the victory and sending the crowd of 5,653 into a frenzy. “Freezie made a great play. He got the puck, made the pass and it was an easy tap in goal,” Payusov said with a wide grin of his second game-winner of the season. For Freeman, he knew exactly what he wanted to do the minute he got the puck. “That was some of the chemistry Sasha and I have developed over the years. I knew he was going to be crashing the net. He was right behind the goalie and put it in for us.” For head coach Mike Cavanaugh, it's nice when the hockey gods shine on you. “Hockey gods reward teams that play the right way. I think we're a team that plays the right way. We continually put pucks in deep and Ben went to the net and we got a shot and that’s how you have to play the game. Look at all the goals scored tonight, except the first one by BU, everything else was from within three feet of the net, that’s where you have to play the game.” The Huskies knew that crashing the net for the tying goal would be required as they got a six-on-five when UCONN pulled starter Tomas Vomacka, and during a previous timeout assistant coach, Joe Periera, a West Haven-native drew it up and it worked. The Terriers had the Huskies hemmed in with a victory within their grasp, but UCONN snatched it away. UCONN’s got it down to the right-wing half wall to Jachym Kondelik and he snapped a shot from on top of the right-wing circle that Sam Tucker stopped, but Freeman was lurking behind the goal line and hid his 6’5 frame and was able to use his reach and batted the rebound behind Tucker with 56 seconds left in the regulation. “Coach Periera drew up the play and we put the puck on Jachym. (He) got a great shot on the play. I really wasn’t supposed to be there, but I was glad I was,“ Freeman laughed as he thought of the turn of events on the game-tying play. “I was just trying to get into it. I just waited for Jachym to shoot the puck and it was just laying there. I was in a soft spot just fortunate enough to put it home.” For Mike Cavanaugh, the sense of escaping with two precious points was there as he was decompressing from the wild turn of events. “Clearly, I was happy with the win in kind of a unique game. We came out and played very well in the first. Tomas played well, made some saves. The second was completely the opposite. In the third, not a lot was happening as BU they’re a good team, kept us from getting to the blue paint area. We lost a tough game in OT last week (in Maine) because we sat back and I told the kids this week if we get to overtime and we will let not sit back. Incredibly, that happened tonight and when we tied it up that’s all the kids talked about on the bench,” remarked Cavanaugh. His counterpart, Albie O’ Connell was composed, but clearly trying to process what had just happened to the Terriers, who despite playing an excellent road game, came out on the short end of the stick. “When you play good and you feel you played a good game, and you get that in the last minute and then they score again, it really gets to you. It shows you gotta play the full-60 and overall, we played a good game. You can’t take away what they did. We had four guys around the puck (on the game-tying goal) counting the goalie, we had five. At some point, you gotta protect your goal. That’s something we have to work on and get better from,” remarked O’Connell, who was coming off the heels of a loss to Northeastern in the Beanpot final in OT. Doubt was not in UCONN’s mind despite what seemed like dire circumstances. “We were down, but we never thought about losing. We wanted to win and we got it. We have a lot of guys who can score goals here. We never doubted,” remarked Payusov, who spoke with a degree of certitude when battling for a playoff spot. For Ben Freeman, he was certain of the outcome despite what the scoreboard said. “We never wavered. There were ebbs and flows in the second period we were very resilient tonight." A TV timeout aided the Huskies as well. “We had a little meeting and got that TV timeout. We got back to the bench and said we need to calm down and stick to our game plan and we came right out afterward,” Payusov, a senior, stated. It was also after BU had kept them pinned in their own end of the ice and came close to getting the insurance goal. UCONN has an early chance at the left side of the net to tie the game as Payusov put a shot on net that the grad transfer from Yale, goalie, Sam Tucker, (Wilton) stuck out his right pad and stopped at 2:45. The first period belonged to UCONN. The second belonged to BU as they scored three times to take the lead. Case McCarthy launched a shot from the right point. It went off the top of Vomacka’s glove and into the net at 4:26 to cut the lead to one. The Terriers persistently broke the Huskies down, dumping the puck and being physical on the forecheck and got their second goal halfway through the period. BU freshmen, Robert Mastrosomine, went around a stick check from Harrison Rees waited for the last second and sent a perfect net-front short pass to Jack DeBoer who easily smacked home his third goal of the season. Then late in the period BU’s Patrick Curry, behind the net unchecked, fished a backhand pass through the box to Cam Crotty at the right point. He beat an open right side that was left by Vomacka as he came out to challenge the shot at 17:35 for his third of the season. The first period was all UCONN. The Huskies took a 1-0 and no surprise Carter Turnbull scored it. In the left-wing corner, he out-muscled two Terriers, went to the net and slipped the puck between the legs of a third Terrier, retrieved and jammed it in on the forehand at 11:12 for his 11th goal and the 1-0 lead. UCONN tallied a second on the powerplay. The red-hot Wyatt Newpower from the right point drilled a low shot. Tucker made the save despite a screen of Kale Howarth, but he had a solid position in front and swept the puck into the net for his fourth goal of the year. UCONN had a decided edge in shots at 15-9, but Vomacka made the saves that kept BU off the board. Early in the game, he stopped an open Logan Cockerill took a pass from Jeff Wise who was behind the Huskies net, but Vomacka glove hand snatched away a sure goal at.5:32 Then late in the period he twice stymied Curry had hit the side of the net and in a net-front scramble, he found the puck with 20.9 seconds to go. Then with 3.9 seconds left New Canaan’s Patrick Harper was on the right-wing as a lefty shot took a cross-ice from Trevor Zegras, a fellow Avon Old Farms alum, but Vomacka again had the glove hand low to the ice and scooped up the shot. NOTES: The UCONN Huskies record is now at the .500 mark at 13-13-4, 10-8-2 HEA. Boston University drops to 12-10-8, 9-6-5 HEA. UCONN is in sixth place, one point behind the Terriers, with 22 points and are two behind Maine in fourth place who beat Vermont 6-1. Boston College destroyed Northeastern 10-1 last night. The Huskies and Terriers travel to Boston for a rematch at 7 PM at the Agganis Arena at BU on NESN. Terriers' Ethan Phillips from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. His parents have been the billet for two NHL first-rounders with the Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL), Swiss-born Nico Hirschier (Devils) and Czech native, Filip Zadina (Red Wings). Terriers have several sons of former players skating on their team. Jamie Armstrong is the son of Bill Armstrong, who played for the Bruins. Gabriel Chabot, his father Frederic Chabot, Jack DeBoer's father is Peter DeBoer is the head coach of the NHL Las Vegas Golden Knights. Former Husky, Max Letunov, in his second NHL game scored his first NHL goal against Edmonton on a three-on-two rush winding up with the puck and turning and firing it into the net on ex-Sound Tiger Mikko Koskinen. He was returned to the AHL San Jose Barracuda where he is having a breakout season on the last-place team. Read the full article